Past Events

Class in partnership with Brooklyn Brainery July 8

Introduction to Cyanotypes with Katarina Jerinic

In this 3-hour class, students will learn to make cyanotypes, a 19th century photographic process that prints in the sun and produces a beautiful blue image. Students will learn about a variety of materials and techniques for making cyanotypes as they make their own prints.

We will experiment with both abstract compositions made from found objects as well as print from negatives of images made by students. All materials are included, and you'll make two 8"x10" prints.

Gowanus Cyanotypes with Katarina Jerinic

Katarina Jerinic will teach participants in this workshop to make their own cyanotype prints related to the canal and surrounding neighborhood. Cyanotypes are a simple early photographic process, the reaction of chemistry to sunlight and water. Objects or film negatives are placed on chemically treated paper or fabric, exposed to sunlight, and then rinsed for a few minutes in ordinary water to develop the image. During the class, participants will explore the blocks and the park surrounding the ArtLab to gather ideas and objects for their cyanotype images, using the idea of a map or flag as a model. Back at the ArtLab, each participant will assemble collected objects and negatives provided by Jerinic into their own cyanotype image. Artists and non-artists of all skill levels can easily make a successful print using this process. Jerinic will also supply a list of materials and resources so that after the class, participants can continue to experiment with this inexpensive and simple process.

Past Events

Solstice Opening Party June 21

Lecture: Wednesday, May 31, 7 pm

Joseph Alexiou: The Past and Future of Brooklyn's Curious Canal

Lying at the epicenter of one of Brooklyn's most rapidly gentrifying (and expensive) neighborhoods is a toxic waste site and open sewer: That's right, it's the Gowanus Canal. This waterway is mostly famous for its stench and as a repository for dead bodies, but did you know that the Gowanus's story begins before Brooklyn was its own city, or colonization itself?

While raw sewage still flows into it today (thank the limited foresight of 19th-century urban planning!), did you know that Gowanus hosted beds of delicious and locally-sourced foot-long oysters? Or even though toxic coal tar now lines its floor, much of the building materials that made brownstone Brooklyn passed through its waters?

This highly entertaining lecture and slideshow is for anyone who’s read about the Gowanus but wants to know more about how it got there, how it got so polluted, and what is next for this post-industrial neighborhood poised at the brink of yet another evolution.

Walking Tour: Saturday, June 10, 2-3:30 pm

Walk the Gowanus with a Local Author Joseph Alexiou

Have you ever wondered where the Gowanus is, or for that matter, what's in it (raw sewage)? Intrigued by Brooklyn's unique industrial neighborhood, but afraid of stumbling into toxic waste? Fear not!

Joseph Alexiou, licensed NYC tourguide and author of Gowanus: Brooklyn's Curious Canal, will lead a walking tour of one of the most important post-industrial waterways in America. Highlights will include: the natural origins of the Gowanus, particularly the tidal estuary and salt marshes; discussion of iconic Gowanus architecture still-extant and sadly removed; the key role the waterway played during the Revolutionary War, the industrial revolution and cleanup of its present-day pollution! Also you'll learn about the renewed hip neighborhood including its funky businesses and new real estate development. In partnership with Brooklyn Brainery. $20

EXPO GOWANUS: Saturday, May 20, 11am–5 pm

Launch of the Sludgie the Whale Scavenger Hunt

We will be launching our Sludgie the Whale Scavenger Hunt at the Gowanus Canal Conservancy's annual EXPO Gowanus. Bring the family and learn about issues facing our neighborhood, while having a fun day in the park with music, art, and food. At Thomas Greene Park.

EXPO Gowanus will be held on Saturday, May 20, 2017, 11:00am - 5:00pm at Thomas Greene Park on 3rd Ave and Douglass St. Join us for all-ages art-making, activism, science, dance and music performances, food, sports, and more!

Walking Tour: Saturday, April 8, 11am–12:30 pm

Walk the Gowanus with a Local Author Joseph Alexiou

Have you ever wondered where the Gowanus is, or for that matter, what's in it (raw sewage)? Intrigued by Brooklyn's unique industrial neighborhood, but afraid of stumbling into toxic waste? Fear not!

Joseph Alexiou, licensed NYC tourguide and author of Gowanus: Brooklyn's Curious Canal, will lead a walking tour of one of the most important post-industrial waterways in America. Highlights will include: the natural origins of the Gowanus, particularly the tidal estuary and salt marshes; discussion of iconic Gowanus architecture still-extant and sadly removed; the key role the waterway played during the Revolutionary War, the industrial revolution and cleanup of its present-day pollution! Also you'll learn about the renewed hip neighborhood including its funky businesses and new real estate development. In partnership with Brooklyn Brainery. $20

Exhibition: March 9 through April 9, 2017

JOEL BECK PAINTINGS

Joel Beck is interested in landscape painting verging between abstraction and classicism and expression of the essence of a moment. His career dates back to the eighties with a long interruption while being a gallerist 1996-2008. Since then he has returned to his painting and has enjoyed thinking about the Gowanus Canal and environs as a departure point for his work. Joel is co-founder of the Gowanus Souvenir Shop.

Preview

We have a lot of things in the pipeline for you this spring! This includes and is not limited to: the launch of our Sludgie the Whale Scavenger Hunt, the launch of our Official Gowanus Tourist Map, and the public art project by Katarina Jerinic: Cloud Drift. We will also be doing shows of maps, pressed flowers, and bathroom art. And we are taking part in the Gowanus Canal Conservancy's EXPO Gowanus.

SNOW DATE!!Pampering Party: Friday, Feb. 17, 6:00–8 pm

CityWell ♥ Soapwalla ♥ Gowanus Souvenir PAMPERING PARTY

Join us for a very special pre-Valentine’s wellness evening at cityWell. Treat yourself to some bubbly, try the new rejuvenating Soapwalla facial mask, get some natural beauty tips, and enjoy a mini massage or jump in the steam room. Additionally, you will get natural beauty tips from Soapwalla’s founder Rachel Winard and a personal tour of CityWell, the spa that everybody is raving about, by its founder Liz Tortolani.

Nail Art Class: Monday, Feb. 13, 6:30–8:30 pm

Crystal Nail Art Tutorial and Nail Polish Hacks

Learn how to get cool crystal looking nails with this class! We are transforming crystals into nail art you can DIY with simple tools you probably already have at home. Join us for a live demonstration and tutorials for three crystal-themed manicure looks that will level up your nail art game.

POP-UP SHOP | EXTENDED Through Feb. 26

Presenting♥ FROM HERE TO SUNDAY ♥

We are excited to host the delightful small batch shop From Here To Sunday by our very-own shopkeeper Diana Ho starting today for a month. Stop in for your daily dose of delicious coffee, baked goods, and a unique collection of limited edition artworks. We will be open earlier so you can get your coffee before you head out for the day. Please also come celebrate the collaboration on Sunday, Jan. 29, 4-7.

EXHIBITION: December 8 through 24

ELIZABETH O'REILLY: Capturing a Moment, on the Canal and in the Night Sky

For this exhibition Elizabeth O’Reilly presents recent small paintings on aluminum featuring scenes along the Gowanus Canal. Having a studio on the Gowanus for twenty-four years O’Reilly continues to paint along the industrial ruins of the canal, re-visiting sites she previously painted but which have changed in the intervening years. At home in the abandoned precincts of the canal with its solidly geometric shapes, the artist welcomes the immediacy of the smooth surface of aluminum which lends itself to capturing a moment in time. The work captures those moments where we look at the sky or the murky water of the canal and stop for an instance, in awe of the light and the wonder of nature. Sites along the canal have been O’Reilly’s muse for more than two decades, from the sun-lit green hut on the Union St Bridge to the latticed overpass at the Smith & 9th St subway. These paintings, small in size, provide an intimate look at the area, combining the dominance of the man-made with the energy of the natural world, surging forth in wild bunches of weeds softening the vivid color of industry.

The show also features other works from O’Reilly's travels to Main, Cape Cod and Ireland. Elizabeth O’Reilly has shown extensively both in the USA and in Ireland.

TALK: Wednesday, November 30, 7 pm

Joseph Alexiou: The Past and Future of Brooklyn's Curious Canal

Lying at the epicenter of one of Brooklyn's most rapidly gentrifying (and expensive) neighborhoods is a toxic waste site and open sewer: That's right, it's the Gowanus Canal. This waterway is mostly famous for its stench and as a repository for dead bodies, but did you know that the Gowanus's story begins before Brooklyn was its own city, or colonization itself?

While raw sewage still flows into it today (thank the limited foresight of 19th-century urban planning!), did you know that Gowanus hosted beds of delicious and locally-sourced foot-long oysters? Or even though toxic coal tar now lines its floor, much of the building materials that made brownstone Brooklyn passed through its waters?

This highly entertaining lecture and slideshow is for anyone who’s read about the Gowanus but wants to know more about how it got there, how it got so polluted, and what is next for this post-industrial neighborhood poised at the brink of yet another evolution.

Book launch of Gowanus Wild by Miska Draskoczy

Gowanus Wild is a photographic exploration of nature and wilderness in the contaminated industrial neighborhood of Gowanus, Brooklyn. As the Gowanus Canal has been declared a federal Superfund site and seen over 150 years of industrial abuse, the images reveal just how tenacious nature can be when faced with grave environmental destruction. Accompanying texts include an essay by Gowanus Canal Conservancy director Andrea Parker and nine poems and an essay by photographer Miska Draskoczy.

The Dec. 4 reception will include a talk with the book's editor Emily Shornick.

EXHIBITION: NOVEMBER 10 - 27

KATARINA JERINIC: Cloud shadows and drifting vapors

Cloud shadows and drifting vapors is an exhibition about the surface of the Gowanus Canal, replete with its floating debris, mucky formations and reflections of Brooklyn skies, signs and structures. As rendered in Katarina Jerinic’s upside down cyanotype photographs, a dingy urban landscape is transformed into images of sublimely cloudy skies. The show’s title is taken from one of Asher B. Durand’s Letters on Landscape Painting, a sort of art and nature manifesto for the Hudson River School artists who lamented growing industrialization around the same time that the Gowanus Canal was taking shape.

Cyanotype is an early photographic process dating from the 1840s, which results in a blue monochromatic image—the reaction of potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate to sunlight and water. This process is conceptually linked to Jerinic’s project, made on her regular walks over the canal. It connects the canal’s polluted present to its 19th Century chemical and industrial past. It produces a stripped down image in shades of blue and white, the essential colors of idealized skies and waterways. Its use of this nostalgic image technology alludes to a historically romantic view of untouched landscapes as separate from built ones—a distinction that is no longer possible, if it ever was.

Katarina Jerinicʼs photography, mixed-media projects and public space-based installations respond to and intervene in built environments, drawing attention to interactions with surrounding spaces. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY; Queens Museum, Queens, NY; BRIC, Brooklyn, NY; Center for Book Arts, New York, NY; Proteus Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY; NurtureArt, Brooklyn, NY; Temple Gallery at Tyler School of Art, Philadephia, PA; among others. Her projects have been supported with grants of space and funding by Times Square Alliance, New York, NY; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY; Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn, NY; chashama, New York, NY: and the Black Rock Arts Foundation, San Francisco, CA. Residencies include MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH; Center for Book Arts, New York, NY; and Outpost Artist Resources, Ridgewood, NY. Jerinic received her MFA in Photography and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts and BA in History from American University. She lives and works in Brooklyn.

Kentile Sign Appreciation PartySaturday, Oct. 29, 5-7pm

Join us Saturday, October 29, 5-7 pm to celebrate the iconic sign on the occasion of Boundless Brooklyn's limited relaunch of their Kentile Sign Model Kit.

The evening will also feature Kentile artworks, including prints, a video and photographs, as well as t-shirts, jewelry and much much more.

Exhibition: October 13-30

Sasha Chavchavadze and Eva Melas: Excavations

Eva Melas and Sasha Chavchavadze sift through layers of sediment and time as they explore the disappearance of culture through images of artifacts and the natural world. Melas’ mixed media installations and ceramics focus on water as a fragile natural element, suggesting environmental degradation and the natural underground streams that still flow below the Gowanus. Chavchavadze’s mixed media paintings and drawings document found objects and artifacts, touching on forgotten history and urban decay in an area that is experiencing the trauma of rapid change.

Eva Melas is primarily a ceramic artist that uses other unconventional mediums such as paper coffee cups, found cigarette packs, and buttons to comment on themes recently involving environmentalism and feminism. She has exhibited at a number of venues including the John Michael Kohler arts center, the Westchester Arts Exchange, and the Armory SOFA show. An installation was shown in The New York Times arts section in June 2015. Her work appears in Art/Industry collaboration and Revelation (Ruth De Young Kohler) Confrontational Ceramics (Judith Schwartz), TedXGowanus Talk 2013, and the New York Times Westchester review 2008.

Sasha Chavchavadze has exhibited her mixed media drawings, paintings and installations in the U.S. and abroad for twenty-five years, including at the Luise Ross Gallery and the Cooper Union Gallery in New York; the Rotunda Gallery, Kentler International Drawing Space, and the Old Stone House Museum in Brooklyn; the Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock; and the Museum of Literature in Tblisi, Georgia. Her work has been published in the art and culture magazines Cabinet, Bomb, Marginalia and NYFA Current; and as a book (Museum of Matches, Proteotypes 2011). Her public art installation “Battle Pass Revolution II”, located at the corner of Smith and Bergen Streets in Brooklyn, was created in partnership with the NYC DOT Urban Art Program. Chavchavadze is the founder of Proteus Gowanus, a community-based exhibition space in Gowanus, and was a speaker at the 2014 TEDxGowanus.

Extended! Through Oct. 23Pop Up Coffee Shop

Common Grounds Pop Up Coffee Shop

We are hosting a pop up coffee shop during the Arts Gowanus Open Studios featuring Coffee Cups by Eva Melas and Cookies by From Here to Sunday.

Exhibition: Sept. 15 — Oct. 2

Debra Pearlman: RIDE

A photo is like a souvenir—a memory, a memento of a brief moment in time. There’s an opportunity to present many responses to this initial photograph: an informal setting and selection of work offers the viewer the chance to experience and reflect on this process.

Titled RIDE, this installation evokes movement or the implied motion of play, and the objects that support these many activities, all presented here together. Painting, photographs, works on paper, some with text, swings, and a bungee jump caught mid-air in all of these media, invite one to think about play, joy, fear, and anxiety of momentarily casting gravity aside.

Debra Pearlman is a multimedia artist who lives and works in Brooklyn and has shown in New York and internationally, including major installations in Leipzig, Germany, and Lodz and Krakow, Poland. Her work is included in collections of MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, The Walker Art Center, New York Public Library, the Museum Sztuki, Krakow, and others, and in private collections including that of Francis Greenberger and the Hiram Moody and Sarah Giraud collection. Her awards include a named residency at the Corporation at Yaddo, The Peter Reed Foundation, Dieu Donne, The Foundation for Contemporary Art and the government of Saxony. www.debrapearlman.net.

Walking Tour: Saturday, September 17, 11am–12:30 pm

Walk the Gowanus with a Local Author Joseph Alexiou

Have you ever wondered where the Gowanus is, or for that matter, what's in it (raw sewage)? Intrigued by Brooklyn's unique industrial neighborhood, but afraid of stumbling into toxic waste? Fear not!

Joseph Alexiou, licensed NYC tourguide and author of Gowanus: Brooklyn's Curious Canal, will lead a walking tour of one of the most important post-industrial waterways in America. Highlights will include: the natural origins of the Gowanus, particularly the tidal estuary and salt marshes; discussion of iconic Gowanus architecture still-extant and sadly removed; the key role the waterway played during the Revolutionary War, the industrial revolution and cleanup of its present-day pollution! Also you'll learn about the renewed hip neighborhood including its funky businesses and new real estate development. In partnership with Brooklyn Brainery. $20

Party: Saturday, September 10, 5 pm onwards

Official New Location Opening Party

Join us to celebrate the official opening of our new location, the end of this crazy hot summer, Fall, back to school---life! Featuring a specialty cocktail created just for us by the one and only mixologist Carlos Victoria using his small batch bitters. See you there!

Acoustic Night, Thursday July 21, 7-9 pm

ACOUSTIC NIGHT WITH RUBY RAE AND FRIENDS

Join us for our first acoustic night at our new location featuring our very own shopkeeper as Ruby Rae and fellow musician Colin Dempsey.

Free drinks & no cover. Need we say more.

Walking Tour: Saturday, July 23, 11am–12:30 pm

Walk the Gowanus with a Local Author Joseph Alexiou

Have you ever wondered where the Gowanus is, or for that matter, what's in it (raw sewage)? Intrigued by Brooklyn's unique industrial neighborhood, but afraid of stumbling into toxic waste? Fear not!

Joseph Alexiou, licensed NYC tourguide and author of Gowanus: Brooklyn's Curious Canal, will lead a walking tour of one of the most important post-industrial waterways in America. Highlights will include: the natural origins of the Gowanus, particularly the tidal estuary and salt marshes; discussion of iconic Gowanus architecture still-extant and sadly removed; the key role the waterway played during the Revolutionary War, the industrial revolution and cleanup of its present-day pollution! Also you'll learn about the renewed hip neighborhood including its funky businesses and new real estate development. In partnership with Brooklyn Brainery. $20

Currently Exhibition

One Canal ViewPaintings by Joel Beck

Puppet Show: Saturday & Sunday, June 18 & 1910:30 am–12 pm

Twice upon A Time

Twice upon A Time is the enchanting tale of Anushka, a young girl, who simply can't get to sleep one moon-lit night. As her mother gets more and more angry and she gets more and more desperate, her story books spring magically, musically to life, coming to her rescue. Twice Upon a Time, which premiered in London in 2010 includes musical versions of favorites such as The Hungry Caterpillar, Where The Wild Things Are, Goodnight Moon and Goodnight Gorilla. With live cello, guitar, accordion and flute with Madeline Solomon.

Lecture: Wednesday, April 13, 7–8:30 pm

Gowanus: The Past and Future of Brooklyn's Curious Canal

A lecture by Joseph Alexiou, author of "Gowanus: Brooklyn's Curious Canal" about the canal's colorful history, how it got so polluted, and what is next for this post-industrial neighborhood poised at the brink of yet another evolution. Followed by a wine reception. In partnership with Brooklyn Brainery. $15

Through April 10

Steven Hirsch: Gowanus WatersExhibition

Exhibition on the occasion of the book launch of Steven Hirsch's photography book Gowanus Waters published by powerHouse Books.

Gowanus Waters is the result of Hirsch's multi-year effort to capture the Gowanus Canal's toxic water surfaces and render them as abstract compositions. His painterly images swirl in a frenzy of elusive shapes and bright explosive colors. The result is a meditation on the sublime beauty and remarkable abstractions on the surface of the canal that remains fully aware of the noxious origin.

Thursday, March 17, 7–8:30 pm

Gowanus: The Past and Future of Brooklyn's Curious Canal

A lecture by Joseph Alexiou, author of "Gowanus: Brooklyn's Curious Canal" about the canal's colorful history, how it got so polluted, and what is next for this post-industrial neighborhood poised at the brink of yet another evolution. Followed by a wine reception. In partnership with Brooklyn Brainery. $15

March 1–13, 2016

Erasing is Leaving a Mark

A site-specific large-scale wall drawing by British Artist Charlotte Mann celebrating the act of drawing and erasing commissioned by Wolf-Gordon and created on their Wink clear dry-erase wall coating. A segment of the finished wall will be available for sale as a limited-edition wall-covering at the shop starting March 2.

Charlotte Mann is known for her site-specific and densely detailed 1:1 scale wall drawings that have the uncanny ability to completely transform a space.

Saturday, March 12, 10:30 am–12 pm

Twice upon A Time

Twice upon A Time is the enchanting tale of Anushka, a young girl, who simply can't get to sleep one moon-lit night. As her mother gets more and more angry and she gets more and more desperate, her story books spring magically, musically to life, coming to her rescue. Twice Upon a Time, which premiered in London in 2010 includes musical versions of favorites such as The Hungry Caterpillar, Where The Wild Things Are, Goodnight Moon and Goodnight Gorilla. With live cello, guitar, accordion and flute with Madeline Solomon and musician Dorle Harrison.

ACOUSTIC NIGHT

THIS USED TO BE MY STUDIOPAINTINGS BY LANCE RUTLEDGE

The show features a small selection of Lance's paintings from the past 25 years, some created in the shop space itself. The newest piece is Canal No. 5, a painting made specifically for the Gowanus Souvenir Shop, which can also be purchase as a limited edition postcard and tote.

Lance writes of his paintings: "They reflect my interest in the oddities of our verbal, and visual landscape. The tipping points between what we say and what we mean. Our world as the as the tragicomic play that we find ourselves floating through, and attempting to navigate, with varying degrees of success."

Thursday, December 10, 7–10 pm

Horror Movie Poster Launch Party

We commissioned Dave Kelly and Lara Antal to create an exclusive faux movie poster for their Tales of the Night Watchman story, "It Came from the Gowanus Canal". Come celebrate as we unleash it from the murky depths this holiday season! "Tales of the Night Watchman" is published by So What? Press. The event is FREE. Outrageous deep sea monster movies will be screened.

Exhibition

December 6–13, 2015Mikael Levin Some Signs Book Launch and Exhibition

Please come see the accompanying exhibition to our first limited edition book project:

Mikael Levin: Some Signs An artist photography book of metaphorically sequenced Gowanus business signs.

For this book, the internationally acclaimed and Gowanus-based photographer Mikael Levin turns his lens on the long-time small businesses in Gowanus and the beauty of their business signs. A quiet and powerful celebration of the local industry which is quickly fading away.

The book launch is accompanied by an exhibition of Mikael Levin's photography. The exhibition will be on view through Dec. 13.